RED BLUFF – Local input. That was the most important message brought to and from the recent California Summit for Safe Communities summit attended by Tehama County Supervisor Ron Warner, Sheriff Clay Parker and county counsel Will Murphy.

The topic of the summit was investigating collaborative solutions for housing high-risk sex offenders and sexually violent predators.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the guest speaker at the forum, which also included James Tilton, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Recommendations from the group made during the workshops will be forwarded on the governor”s office to help in policy making.

The issue was recently brought home to Warner when a parolee was placed in his district in close proximity to a minor.

Warner protested the placement, noting that local officials were not contacted prior to the decision.

“The jails and prisons are overcrowded,” said Warner. “With Megan”s Law, new restrictions are limiting where these people can live and so this seems to be forcing them into rural areas. When it gets to the point where they are too restrictive, someone will take this to court and have it ruled unconstitutional, and we don”t want that to happen.”

Warner said that no one wants these people to be homeless, then they aren”t trackable.

“The general feeling is that we will accept those who came from Tehama County back to Tehama County, but we don”t want other counties” problems,” said Warner.

Currently, there are about 160-170 such parolees in the county. For local governments, the problem is in their backyard. They often see state officials as thinking they know better then local officials and feel that they are dumping grounds. They are often forced to be reactive rather than proactive.

The state is saddled with parolees that have served their time, and while they are a high risk, they have paid their debt to society. The problem is weighing the rights of the parolee over the risk of them offending again.

“We want the state parole board to start listening to the local parole board,” said Warner. “There is a problem here, and the answer will affect us, and we need to be at the table when we reach it.”

Warner said several suggestions were made, including group homes and zoning. He added that funding is also a key factor.

“Other issues like who gets notified and the effect on things like housing and apartment complexes are also issues,” said Warner.

Parker said that Tehama County has been on the forefront of notifying the community of potential dangers on the sheriff”s Web site before it became a statewide practice.

“With offender watch, you can put your address, school, church or whatever into the computer and get notifications when someone moves in the area,” said Parker. “This is very proactive, and Tehama County was the first in the state.”

Other changes in the works is the time of notification of law enforcement. Currently, it”s 60 days; soon it will be 180 days.

The sheriff”s Web site also offers tips for parents and children for keeping safe.

The mission of the task force was to develop recommendations for a statewide system to improve departmental polices related to the placement, supervision and monitoring of high-risk offenders in local communities, thereby enhancing public safety.

County counsel Will Murphy said that the most important message is the importance for local government to keep its place at the table.

“Counties are subdivisions of the state, and the state can change our lives with the stoke of a pen,” said Murphy. “It”s important that we be in on the process.”